Inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
MEMORANDUM
AFR 28/005/2010
January 4, 2011
GHANA: SUBMISSION FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE
CONSTITUTION
REVIEW COMMISSION ON THE REVIEW OF
6 February
2009
PROVISIONS ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
IN
THE
1992
FOURTH
REPUBLICAN
CONSTITUTION OF GHANA
As Ghana approaches two full decades of uninterrupted constitutional rule, Amnesty
International Ghana is urging the Constitution Review Commission to reinforce Ghana’s
commitment to human rights by including economic, social and cultural rights as
enforceable human rights in Ghana’s constitution.
Under international human rights law binding on Ghana, the government must progressively
realise economic, social and cultural rights within the maximum of resources available to it.
Economic, social and cultural rights are enshrined in the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which Ghana became a party in 2000, but
which it has not yet fully domesticated. The ICESCR recognises and guarantees, among
others, the following rights:








The right to work (Articles 6, 7, 8 and 10)
The right to social security (Article 9)
The right to food (Article 11) 1
The right to adequate housing (Article 11)
The rights to water and sanitation (Article 11)2
The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Article 12)
The right to education (Articles 13 and 14)
The right to take part in cultural life and to benefit from scientific progress (Article 15)
In 2008, the UN General Assembly, where Ghana was represented, unanimously adopted the
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
establishing an individual complaints mechanism and inquiry procedure for violations of
these rights. By doing so, the General Assembly confirmed that these rights are justiciable.
Ghana was one of the first countries that signed the Optional Protocol to the International
Amnesty International Ghana
Inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the first day of its opening for signature
on 24 September 2009.
Ghana became party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1989. Some of the
economic, social and cultural rights in this treaty include:









The right to work (Article 15)
The right to health (Article 16)
The right to education (Article 17)
The right to freely take part in the cultural life of one’s community (Article 17)
The right to protection of the family (Article 18)
The right of the aged and disabled to special measures of protection (Article 18)
The right to shelter and housing (Articles 14, 16 and 18)3
The right to food (Articles 4, 16 and 22)4
The right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to the development of all peoples
(Article 24).
Ghana’s 1992 Constitution did not provide for economic, social and cultural rights within
Chapter 5 on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms. Some of these rights were included
in Chapter 6 on Directive Principles of State Policy. However, since 1992, the international
community - including Ghana - has increasingly emphasised that economic, social and
cultural rights should be given similar status as civil and political rights. Ghana has ratified
the ICESCR and signed its Optional Protocol, and it is now accepted at the international level
that economic, social and cultural rights are justiciable. Despite ratifying the ICESCR 10
years ago, Ghana has not domesticated all of its provisions. The Constitution review process
offers an important opportunity to increase the status given to economic, social and cultural
rights in Ghana.
Amnesty International Ghana urges the Constitution Review Commission to ensure that
economic, social and cultural rights are included as legally binding human rights within the
new constitution for the following reasons:
i) protection of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution would help ensure
that Ghana realises its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil economic, social and cultural
rights. It would provide a way to guarantee that legislation and policy measures give full
effect to economic, social and cultural rights. The Constitution would therefore be an
important tool to protect human rights and reduce levels of poverty in the country.
A constitutional guarantee of economic, social and cultural rights would require respect for
these rights. For example, it would require that people are protected from being forcibly
evicted from their homes without complying with international standards, such as due
process and adequate alternative housing or compensation. It would require steps to ensure
that third parties respect economic, social and cultural rights, for example through regulation
of private businesses to ensure that employers provide fair conditions of work for employees.
It would require progressive steps – using the maximum available resources – to ensure that
everyone is able to access the rights to education, food, water, housing and health, putting
priority on achieving the minimum essential levels of each of these rights for all.
Amnesty International Ghana
Inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution
ii) inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution would reflect Ghana’s
commitment to the universality and indivisibility of all human rights and to the realisation of
all human rights, including those of primary importance to those living in poverty. It would
make tangible the commitment by 170 States, including Ghana, at the Vienna World
Conference on Human Rights of 1993 which stated that “All human rights are universal,
indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat
human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same
emphasis.” Ghana’s new Constitution could send an important signal to other States in Africa
and globally, that it is now time to protect all forms of human rights, as a goal in itself and as
tool to eradicate poverty.
iii) inclusion of these rights in the Constitution increases the role of Ghanaian institutions in
securing economic, social and cultural rights, making justice more accessible for the people
of Ghana. Currently, individuals, groups and civil society organisations in Ghana are able to
seek a remedy for alleged violations of their economic, social and cultural rights from the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, if there is no effective remedy locally;
and from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of
Justice. The ECOWAS Court has affirmed that all the human rights, including economic,
social and cultural rights, contained in the African Charter are justiciable before it.
Guaranteeing economic, social and cultural rights in the Ghanaian Constitution makes justice
more accessible and ensures that Ghanaian institutions have the opportunity to address and
resolve allegations of violations of economic, social and cultural rights before they are
brought to the international level.
iv) inclusion of these rights will bring Ghana’s Constitution in line with the growing trend
among many countries which have recently revised their Constitutions and recognise that
economic, social and cultural rights are enforceable. Countries from all regions: Asia, the
Americas, Africa and Europe and at various levels of development guarantee the protection of
economic, social and cultural rights in their Constitutions. The attached Annex provides
excerpts from the Constitutions of countries in all global regions. This list includes African
countries with a similar Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita to Ghana, for example
Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya, as well as Mozambique which has a significantly lower
GDP per capita than Ghana.
Most recently, Kenya’s new Constitution, adopted following a constitutional referendum in
August 2010, recognises the rights to housing, sanitation, food and freedom from hunger,
water, social security, education and health, with the latter right specifically including
reproductive health care. It states that a person shall not be denied emergency medical
treatment.
Kenya’s Constitution, like that of South Africa, explicitly recognises that the State obligation
is to progressively realise economic, social and cultural rights to the extent of a State’s
ability. Thus, while there remains a positive obligation to take steps in a non-discriminatory
manner, if the right is claimed before the Courts, the State has the opportunity to
demonstrate that it cannot fulfil the right due to lack of availability of resources. However, it
must show that in its allocation of resources, it is giving “priority to ensuring the widest
possible enjoyment of the right or fundamental freedom having regard to prevailing
circumstances, including the vulnerability of particular groups or individuals.” Any court
Amnesty International Ghana
Inclusion of economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution
reviewing State action on the allocation of available resources can only interfere with such a
decision in the case of a clear violation, it will not be able to do so “solely on the solely on
the basis that it would have reached a different conclusion.”
Amnesty International Ghana
ANNEX: EXAMPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS ON ENFORCEABLE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND
CULTURAL RIGHTS
This Annex provides a selected list of countries that include enforceable social and economic
rights - housing, food, health, education, social security, water, sanitation and work. This list is
not comprehensive, but includes examples of countries from each region.
AFRICA
South Africa (1996)5
Article 26. Housing
1.
2.
3.
Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.
The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available
resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.
No one may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order
of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances. No legislation may permit
arbitrary evictions.
Article 27. Health care, food, water and social security
1.
2.
3.
Everyone has the right to have access to
a. health care services, including reproductive health care;
b. sufficient food and water; and
c. social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their
dependants, appropriate social assistance.
The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available
resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights.
No one may be refused emergency medical treatment.
Article 28. Children
1.
Every child has the right
a. to a name and a nationality from birth;
b. to family care or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care when
removed from the family environment;
c. to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services;
d. to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation;
e. to be protected from exploitative labour practices;
f. not to be required or permitted to perform work or provide services that
i.are inappropriate for a person of that child's age; or
ii.place at risk the child's well-being, education, physical or mental health
or spiritual, moral or social development;
g. not to be detained except as a measure of last resort, in which case, in
addition to the rights a child enjoys under sections 12 and 35, the child may
be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time, and has the right
to be
i.kept separately from detained persons over the age of 18 years; and
ii.treated in a manner, and kept in conditions, that take account of the
child's age;
h.
2.
3.
to have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state
expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would
otherwise result; and
i. not to be used directly in armed conflict, and to be protected in times of
armed conflict.
A child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the
child.
In this section "child" means a person under the age of 18 years.
Article 29. Education
1.
2.
3.
4.
Everyone has the right
a. to a basic education, including adult basic education; and
b. to further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must
make progressively available and accessible.
Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their
choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable.
In order to ensure the effective access to, and implementation of, this right, the state
must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium
institutions, taking into account
a. equity;
b. practicability; and
c. the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and
practices.
Everyone has the right to establish and maintain, at their own expense, independent
educational institutions that
a. do not discriminate on the basis of race;
b. are registered with the state; and
c. maintain standards that are not inferior to standards at comparable public
educational institutions.
Subsection (3) does not preclude state subsidies for independent educational
institutions.
Kenya (Adopted by referendum in 2010)6
Economic and social rights
43. (1) Every person has the right—
(a) to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services,
including
reproductive health care;
(b) to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation;
(c) to be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality;
(d) to clean and safe water in adequate quantities;
(e) to social security; and
(f) to education.
(2) A person shall not be denied emergency medical treatment.
(3) The State shall provide appropriate social security to persons who are unable to support
themselves and their dependants.
Application of Bill of Rights
20. ...
(5) In applying any right under Article 43, if the State claims that it does not have the resources
to implement the right, a court, tribunal or other authority shall be guided by the following
principles––
(a) it is the responsibility of the State to show that the resources are not available;
(b) in allocating resources, the State shall give priority to ensuring the widest possible enjoyment
of the right or fundamental freedom having regard to prevailing circumstances, including the
vulnerability of particular
groups or individuals; and
(c) the court, tribunal or other authority may not interfere with a decision by a State organ
concerning the allocation of available resources, solely on the solely on the basis that it would
have reached a different conclusion.
Mozambique (1990)7
Article 85. Right to Remuneration and to Safety at Work
1. All workers shall have the right to fair remuneration, rest and vacation and to retirement in
accordance with the law.
2. Workers shall have the right to protection, health and safety at work.
3. Workers may be dismissed only in the cases and in accordance with the terms provided for by
law.
Article 88. Right to Education
1. In the Republic of Mozambique, education shall be a right and a duty of all citizens.
2. The State shall promote the extension of education to professional and continuing vocational
training, as well as equal access to the enjoyment of this right by all citizens.
Article 89. Health
All citizens shall have the right to medical and health care, within the terms of the
law, and shall have the duty to promote and protect public health.
Article 90. Right to a Balanced Environment
1. All citizens shall have the right live in a balanced environment and shall have the duty to
defend it.
2. The State and the local authorities, with collaboration from associations for environmental
protection, shall adopt policies to protect the environment and shall promote the rational use of
all natural resources.
Article 91. Housing and Urbanisation
1. All citizens shall have the right to a suitable home, and it shall be the duty of the State, in
accordance with national economic development, to create the appropriate institutional,
normative and infra-structural conditions.
2. The State shall also be responsible for funding and supporting the initiatives of the local
communities, the local authorities and the people, in order to promote private and cooperative construction as well the accessibility of home ownership.
Article 95. Right to Assistance of the Disabled and the Aged
1. All citizens shall have the right to assistance in the case of disability or old age.
2. The State shall promote and encourage the creation of conditions for realising this right.
Senegal (Adopted by referendum in 2001)8
Article 8
The Republic of Senegal guarantees to all citizens their individual fundamental freedoms,
economic and social rights as well as group rights. These freedoms and rights are: Civil and
political liberties, freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, press freedom, freedom of
association, freedom to hold meetings, freedom of movement, freedom to protest, cultural
freedoms, religious freedoms, philosophical freedoms, union freedoms, freedom of enterprise,
the right to education, the right to literacy, the right to property, the right to work, the right to
health, the right to a healthy environment, and the right to a variety of information. These
freedoms and rights shall be exercised under the conditions provided by law.
Constitution of Côte d'Ivoire (2000)9
Article 6
The State shall ensure the protection of children, the aged and the handicapped.
Article 7
Every individual shall have the right to develop fully his or her personality materially, intellectually
and spiritually. The State shall ensure that all citizens have equal access to health, education,
culture, information, professional training and employment….
ASIA
Indonesia (As amended by 2002)
Article 28C
(1) Every person shall have the right to develop him/herself through the fulfilment of his/her
basic needs, the right to get education and to benefit from science and technology, arts and
culture, for the purpose of improving the quality of his/her life and for the welfare of the human
race.
(2) Every person shall have the right to improve him/herself through collective struggle for his/her
rights to develop his/her society, nation and state.
Article 28H
(1) Every person shall have the right to live in physical and spiritual prosperity, to
have a home and to enjoy a good and healthy environment, and shall have the
right to obtain medical care.
(2) Every person shall have the right to receive facilitation and special treatment
to have the same opportunity and benefit in order to achieve equality and
fairness.
(3) Every person shall have the right to social security in order to develop oneself
fully as a dignified human being. …
Article 31
(1) Every citizen has the right to receive education.
(2) Every citizen has the obligation to undertake basic education, and the government has the
obligation to fund this.
(3) The government shall manage and organise one system of national education, which shall
increase the level of spiritual belief, devoutness and moral character in the context of developing
the life of the nation and shall be regulated by law.
(4) The state shall prioritise the budget for education to a minimum of 20% of the State Budget
and of the Regional Budgets to fulfil the needs of implementation of national education. …
Article 34
(1) Impoverished persons and abandoned children shall be taken care of by the State.
(2) The state shall develop a system of social security for all of the people and shall empower the
inadequate and underprivileged in society in accordance with human dignity.
(3) The state shall have the obligation to provide sufficient medical and public service facilities.
(4) Further provisions in relation to the implementation of this Article shall be regulated by law.
Thailand (2007)10
Section 49
A person shall enjoy an equal right to receive education for the duration of not less than
twelve years which shall be provided by State thoroughly, up to the quality, and without
charge. The indigent, disabled or handicapped, or destitute person shall enjoy an equal right
under paragraph one and shall be supported by State to receive equal education with other
persons. The education and training provided by professional or private organization,
alternative education of the public, self-directed learning and lifelong learning shall get
appropriate protection and promotion from State.
Section 51
A person shall enjoy an equal right to receive standard public health service, and the indigent
shall have the right to receive free medical treatment from State’s infirmary. The public
health service by the State shall be provided thoroughly and efficiently. The State shall
promptly prevent and eradicate harmful contagious diseases for the public without charge.
Section 52
Children and youth shall enjoy the right to survive and to receive physical, mental and
intellectual development potentially in suitable environment with due regard to their
participation. Children, youth, women and family members shall have the right to be
protected by State against violence and unfair treatment and shall have the right to medical
treatment or rehabilitation upon the occurrence thereof. An interference and imposition of
rights of children, youth and family members shall not be made except by virtue of the law
specially enacted for the maintenance of family institution or utmost benefit of such person.
Children and youth with no guardian shall have the right to receive appropriate care and
education from the State.
Section 53
A person who is over sixty years of age and has insufficient income for living shall have the
right to welfare, public facilities and appropriate aids from State.
Section 54
The disabled or handicapped shall have the right to get access to, and to utilize of, welfare,
public facilities and appropriate aids from State. A person of unsound mind shall have the
right to appropriate aids from State.
Section 55
A person who is homeless and has insufficient income for living shall have the right to
appropriate aids from State.
Mongolia (1992)11
Article 16
The citizens of Mongolia shall be guaranteed the privilege to enjoy the following rights and
freedoms: …
2) Right to healthy and safe environment, and to be protected against environmental
pollution and ecological imbalance. …
4) Right to free choice of employment, favourable conditions of work, remuneration, rest and
private enterprise. No one shall be unlawfully forced to work.
5) Right to material and financial assistance in old age, disability, childbirth and child care
and in other circumstances as provided by law;
6) Right to the protection of health and medical care. The procedure and conditions of free
medical aid shall be defined by law.
7) Right to education. The State shall provide basic general education free of charge.
Citizens may establish and operate private schools if these meet he requirements of the
State. ….
AMERICAS
Brazil (1988, as amended by 2006)12
Article 6
Education, health, work, habitation, leisure, security, social security, protection of
motherhood and childhood, and assistance to the destitute, are social rights, as set forth by
this Constitution.
[In addition, in February 3, 2010, the Brazilian Congress approved Constitutional
Amendment 047/2003 to incorporate the right to food into Article 6 of the national
constitution].
Article 196
Health is a right of all and a duty of the State and shall be guaranteed by means of social
and economic policies aimed at reducing the risk of illness and other hazards and at the
universal and equal access to actions and services for its promotion, protection and recovery.
Article 203
Social assistance shall be rendered to whomever may need it, regardless of contribution to
social welfare and shall have as objectives:
I - the protection of the family, maternity, childhood. adolescence and old age;
II - the assistance to needy children and adolescents;
III - the promotion of the integration into the labour market;
IV - the habilitation and rehabilitation of the handicapped and their integration into
community life;
V - the guarantee of a monthly benefit of one minimum wage to the handicapped and to the
elderly who prove their incapability of providing for their own support or having it provided for
by their families. As set forth by law.
Article 205
Education, which is the right of all and duty of the State and of the family, shall be promoted
and fostered with the cooperation of society, with a view to the full development of the
person, his preparation for the exercise of citizenship and his qualification for work.
Colombia (1991)13
Article 51
All Colombian citizens are entitled to live in dignity. The state will determine the conditions
necessary to give effect to this right and will promote plans for public housing, appropriate
systems of long-term financing, and community plans for the execution of these housing
programs.
Article 48
… All the population is guaranteed the irrevocable right to social security. …
Article 49
… Public health and environmental protection are public services for which the state is
responsible. All individuals are guaranteed access to services that promote, protect, and
rehabilitate public health…
Article 67
Education is an individual right and a public service that has a social function….
Article 366
The general welfare and improvement of the population quality of life are social purposes of
the state. A basic objective of the state's activity will be to address unsatisfied public health,
educational, environmental, and potable water needs. For this purpose, public social
expenditures will have priority over any other allocation in the plans and budgets of the
nation and of the territorial entities.
Constitution of Bolivia (Adopted by referendum in 2009)14
Article 16
I. Everyone has the right to water and food.
II. The State is under the obligation to guarantee food security, through the provision of
healthy, appropriate and sufficient food for the entire population.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to receive universal, productive, free, comprehensive and intercultural
education at all levels without discrimination.
Article 18
I. Everyone has the right to health.
II. The State guarantees inclusion and access to health for everyone without exception or
discrimination. …
Article 19
I. Everyone has the right to a home and decent housing that gives dignity to family and
community life.
II. The State, at all levels of government, shall, through the provision of appropriate systems
of funding, promote social housing schemes that are based on the principles of solidarity and
fairness. Such schemes shall prioritize families with few resources, disadvantaged groups and
the rural area.
Article 20
I. Everyone has the right to universal and equal access to basic services for the provision of
drinking water, sanitation, electricity, domestic gas, postal services and telecommunications.
…
III. Access to water and sanitation are human rights; they may not be subject to concession
or privatization but are subject to a licensing and registration system, in accordance with the
law.
Article 33
People have the right to a healthy, protected and balanced environment. …
Article 46
I. Everyone has the right:
1. To decent work, together with occupational health, hygiene and safety, without
discrimination and with fair, equitable and satisfactory remuneration or wages that
will ensure a decent standard of living for themselves and their families.
2. To a stable source of work, under equitable and satisfactory conditions. …
EUROPE
Portugal (as last amended in 2005)15
Article 63 (Social security and solidarity)
1. Everyone shall have the right to social security.
2. The state shall be charged with organising, coordinating and subsidising a unified and
decentralised social security system, with the participation of the trade unions, other
organisations that represent workers and associations that represent any other beneficiaries.
3. The social security system shall protect citizens in illness and old age and when they are
disabled, widowed or orphaned, as well as when they are unemployed or in any other
situation that entails a lack of or reduction in means of subsistence or ability to work.
4. All periods of work shall, as laid down by law, contribute to the calculation of old age and
disability pensions, regardless of the sector of activity in which they were performed. …
Article 64 (Health)
1. Everyone shall possess the right to health protection and the duty to defend and promote
health.
2. The right to health protection shall be fulfilled:
a) By means of a national health service that shall be universal and general and, with
particular regard to the economic and social conditions of the citizens who use it, shall tend
to be free of charge;
b) By creating economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions that particularly
guarantee the protection of childhood, youth and old age; by systematically improving living
and working conditions and also promoting physical fitness and sport at school and among
the people; and by developing both the people’s health and hygiene education and healthy
living practises.
3. In order to ensure enjoyment of the right to the protection of health, the state shall be
under a primary duty:
a) To guarantee access by every citizen, regardless of his economic situation, to preventive,
curative and rehabilitative medical care;
b) To guarantee a rational and efficient nationwide coverage in terms of healthcare units and
human resources;
c) To work towards the public funding of the costs of medical care and medicines;
d) To regulate and inspect corporate and private forms of medicine and articulate them with
the national health service, in such a way as to ensure adequate standards of efficiency and
quality in both public and private healthcare institutions;
e) To regulate and control the production, distribution, marketing, sale and use of chemical,
biological and pharmaceutical products and other means of treatment and diagnosis;
f) To establish policies for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse.
4. The national health service shall possess a decentralised and participatory management
system.
Article 65 (Housing and urban planning)
1. Everyone shall possess the right for themselves and their family to have an adequately
sized dwelling that provides them with hygienic and comfortable conditions and preserves
personal and family privacy.
2. In order to ensure enjoyment of the right to housing, the state shall be charged with:
a) Planning and implementing a housing policy that is embodied in general town and country
planning documents and supported by urban planning documents that guarantee the
existence of an adequate network of transport and social facilities;
b) In cooperation with the autonomous regions and local authorities, promoting the
construction of low-cost and social housing;
c) Stimulating private construction, subject to the general interest, and access to owned or
rented housing;
d) Encouraging and supporting local community initiatives that work towards the resolution of
their housing problems and foster the formation of housing and self-building cooperatives.
3. The state shall undertake a policy that works towards the establishment of a rental system
which is compatible with family incomes and access to individual housing. …
Ukraine (1996)16
Article 43
Everyone shall have the right to work, including a possibility to earn a living by labour that he
freely chooses or to which he freely agrees. The State shall create conditions for citizens that
will make it possible to fully realise their right to work, guarantee equal opportunities in the
choice of profession and of types of labour activities, and implement programmes for
vocational education, training, and retraining of personnel according to the needs of society.
…
Article 46
Citizens shall have the right to social protection including the right to financial security in
cases of complete, partial, or temporary disability, loss of the principal wage-earner,
unemployment due to circumstances beyond their control, old age, and in other cases
determined by law. This right shall be guaranteed by the mandatory state social insurance
based on insurance payments made by citizens, enterprises, institutions, and organisations,
as well as by budgetary and other sources of social security; and by establishing a network of
state, communal, and private institutions caring for incapacitated persons. Pensions and
other types of social payments and assistance that are the principal sources of subsistence
shall ensure a standard of living not lower than the minimum living standard established by
law.
Article 47
Everyone shall have the right to housing. The State shall create conditions enabling every
citizen to build, purchase, or rent housing. Citizens in need of social protection shall be
provided with housing by the bodies of State power and local self-government, free of charge
or at a price affordable for them in accordance with law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived
of housing other than on the basis of the law pursuant to a court decision.
Article 48
Everyone shall have the right to a standard of living sufficient for themselves and their
families including adequate nutrition, clothing, and housing.
Article 49
Everyone shall have the right to health protection, medical care and medical insurance.
Health protection shall be ensured through state funding of the relevant socio-economic,
medical and sanitary, health improvement and prevention programmes. The State shall create
conditions for effective medical service accessible to all citizens. State and communal health
protection institutions shall render medical care free of charge; the existing network of such
institutions shall not be reduced. The State shall promote the development of medical
institutions under all forms of ownership. The State shall provide for the development of
physical culture and sports, and ensure sanitary-epidemic welfare.
Article 50
Everyone shall have the right to an environment that is safe for life and health, and to
compensation for damages caused by violation of this right.
Article 53
Everyone shall have the right to education. Complete general secondary education shall be
compulsory. The State shall ensure accessible and free pre-school, complete general
secondary, vocational and higher education at the state and communal educational
establishments; the development of pre-school, complete general secondary, extra-curricular,
vocational, higher and post-graduate education, various forms of study; the provision of state
scholarships and privileges to pupils and students. Citizens shall have the right to obtain free
higher education at the state and communal educational establishments on a competitive
basis. …
1
Article 11 (1) of the ICESCR recognizes “…the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for
himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing…”. The UN Human Rights
Council regularly adopts resolutions that refer to the terms ‘right to food’ and ‘right to adequate housing’.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has adopted General Comments on these
rights; The right to adequate food (Art.11) General Comment 12, E/C.12/1999/5, 12 May 1999 and The
right to adequate housing (Art.11 (1), General Comment 4, 13 December 1991.
2
Ghana was one of the 122 States at the UN General Assembly that voted in favour of Resolution
64/292 of July 2010 which “Recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a
human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” Ghana also signed on to
the Abuja Declaration adopted at the First Africa-South America Summit (ASA) in Abuja, Nigeria, on 30
November 2006, in which 65 African and South American States committed to “promote the right of our
citizens to have access to clean and safe water and sanitation. Ghana’s 2007 National Water Policy
recognises the “principle of fundamental right of all people without discrimination to safe and adequate
water to meet basic human needs.”
Although the ICESCR does not explicitly refer to water and sanitation, its official treaty monitoring
body, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has stated that the rights to water
and sanitation are implicitly included within Article 11 of the ICESCR, which recognizes the right of
everyone to an adequate standard of living. This is because the rights to water and sanitation are
essential for survival and to live in dignity. See UN CESCR, The right to water, General Comment 15,
E/C.12/2002/11, 20 January 2003 and Statement on the Right to Sanitation, UN Doc.
E/C.12/45/CRP.1, 19 November 2010. The Human Rights Council concurred with this view. On 30
September 2010 the Human Rights Council (where Ghana is a member) adopted by consensus
Resolution 15/9 which: “Affirms that the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation is derived
from the right to an adequate standard of living and inextricably related to the right to the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as the right to life and human dignity”.
3
The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights stated that the combined effect of Articles 14
(right to property), 16 (right to health) and 18 (1) (right to protection of the family) reads into the
Charter the right to shelter or housing. The Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and the
Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria, Communication 155/96, decision made at 30th
Ordinary Session, Banjul, The Gambia, from 13th to 27th October 2001, ACHPR/COMM/A044/1, para.
60.
4
In the case of SERAC and CESR v. Nigeria, ibid, paras. 63-5, the Commission noted that the right to
food is implicit in the African Charter, on the basis of the argument by the communicants that it was
contained in the right to life (Art. 4), the right to health (Art. 16) and the right to economic, social and
cultural development (Art. 22).
5
http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/index.htm
6
http://www.parliament.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=79
Field Code
7
Unofficial translation available at:
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/documents/ahrdd/mozambique/mozambique_constitution.pdf Field Code
8
Unofficial translation available at:
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/documents/ahrdd/senegal/senegal_constitution_extracts.pdf. The
Field Code
original French version is available at:
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/documents/ahrdd/senegal/senegal_constitution_french.pdf
Field Code
9
Unofficial translation available at:
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/documents/ahrdd/cotedivoire/cotedivoire_constitution_extracts.pdf
Field Code
10
Unofficial translation available at: http://www.thailawonline.com/en/thai-laws/constitutions-ofField Code
thailand/87-constitution-of-thailand-be-2550-or-2007-.html
11
Official English translation from the Mongolian Ministry for Foreign Affairs available at:
http://dipservice.mfat.gov.mn/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=4&Itemid=13&lang=en
Field Code
12
Unofficial translation available at: http://www.v-brazil.com/government/laws/titleII.html
13
Unofficial translation available at: http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/colombia_const2.pdf
14
Unofficial translation. The original Spanish original is available at:
http://www.geocities.com/cpbolivia/texto2.htm.
15
Official translation from the Portuguese Constitutional Court available at:
http://www.tribunalconstitucional.pt/tc/en/crpen.html
Field Code
16
Official translation from the Ukrainian Presidency available at:
http://www.president.gov.ua/en/content/constitution.html
Field Code
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed
Changed